Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque :
Tigers could have easily whitewashed Afghanistan. It could not. The main reason playing one day after a long layoff. Tigers were out of practice. Batting in two matches was not up to the mark. . They had a hair breadth escape from defeat in the first encounter. The target it set in the second OD was reachable. And Afghanistan id it quite comfortably.
According to news reports: Afghanistan skipper Asghar Stanikzai top scored with 57 as his side stunned Bangladesh by claiming a two-wicket victory in the second one-day international in Dhaka. Afghanistan’s bowlers set up the shock result as leg-spinner Rashid Khan took 3-35 and Mohammad Nabi claimed 2-16 to help the visitors dismiss Bangladesh for a modest 208 runs on a slow pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. Man-of-the-match Nabi showed his all-round skill in scoring 49 and putting on 107 runs with Stanikzai in the fifth wicket as Afghanistan recovered from 4-63 to reach 8-212, completing their second win against Bangladesh in four meetings.
It’s only the 10th time in 27 attempts that Afghanistan has beaten a Test-playing nation in ODI cricket, with eight victories against Zimbabwe and two against the Tigers.Stanikzai hit four fours and two sixes in his 95 balls to atone for some of his causal batting in the opening match, which saw Afghanistan lose by seven runs despite dominating Bangladesh’s bowlers for large periods of the match. Defending a modest score, Shakib Al Hasan gave Bangladesh some hope with three early wickets before finishing with 4-47, but Nabi and Stanikzai stood firm to put Afghanistan in a strong position.
Mashrafe Mortaza trapped Nabi leg-before to end their partnership before debutant Mosaddek Hossain, who claimed 2-30, including a wicket with his first ball, removed Stanikzai.
But Najibullah Zadran made 22 and the lower order gave him valuable support to see Afghanistan home, making the third and final match on October 1 the series decider. Stanikzai hailed his bowlers for their brilliant effort. Earlier, Bangladesh could only pass the 200-run mark thanks to an unbeaten 45 runs of Mosaddek, who shared 43 runs with Rubel Hossain for the last wicket.
With defeat in the second OD Tigers had to wait for the next match to complete its century mark. so far a number in OD matchs wa concerned. Nevertheless Bangladesh team was improving having overtime matured as a team as pr excellence. It has the ability to beat any heavy weight cricket team in all formats.
However the tigers registered a comprehensive win in 3rd and last OD. According news reports:
Although there’s plenty of cricket involving some of best sides in the world on at the moment, the third and final One-Day International between Bangladesh and Afghanistan at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday (October 1) should attract its fair share of attention.Had Bangladesh won the second game as it had the first – albeit by a thin margin – the series would have been over and the final game would have been a dead rubber. But since Afghanistan’s two-wicket win over the No. 7 side in the world, the three-match series has come back to life.
The problem Bangladesh have had against Afghanistan, in both games, is that its batsmen, the middle order in particular, haven’t gotten a measure of the likes of Dawlat Zadran, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan.
Also, with Asghar Stanikzai, the skipper, rotating his bowlers smartly, Bangladesh’s batsmen haven’t managed to get stuck into them.
In the first ODI, barring Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah, none of the other batsmen were able to provide substantial contributions.
In the second, Mosaddek Hossain, the debutant, made his mark with an unbeaten 45 to carry the hosts to 208, which ultimately proved too few.Bangladesh nearly fell short in the first game as well, and in the second it faltered in the face of a spirited batting display from Afghanistan.Afghanistan, too, hasn’t delivered at its best with a number of its batsmen – Mohammad Shahzad in particular – not getting off the blocks.
Should it manage to do so it could just pull off another win, because its bowling has fired beautifully so far.
Bangladesh, however, has the personnel to wrap up a series win, but those big-name players, especially the batsmen, need to come to the party quickly.
The tigers with the victory in the last OD have regained confidence. It was a morale booster. What is expected is to learn lesson from mistakes in the matches against spirited Afgans that can be termed as dress rehearsal.
Improve ground and areal field. Samoy Sarker seems out of touch as he suffers from bad patched. Does he loss his rhythm? So Hature Simgh should help him to be in good form. Bowling is OK as there is Kuti Walash a speed star with over 500 test wickets.
(Dr Mashreque teaches Public Administration in Chittagong University.)
